War of the Hearts

Chapter XIV

"People with talent often have the wrong impression that things will go as they think." ~Karama Akabane (Assassination Classroom)
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Akari impatiently tapped her foot, wondering where Aina could be constantly running off to. These last few days, she seemed to be so busy that she couldn't meet up with her. Whenever she was at home, she was always resting and didn't want to be disturbed. Once, she stopped at Akari's and Sunako's place to rest but left quickly without answering Akari's questions of where she was constantly going off to. The war was impending, and Akari could feel it coming up on the horizon behind her. She needed to consult with Aina and let her at least prepare for the huge task given to her.

Akari had her suspicions that she knew Aina was going, given the recent events, but she refused to believe it. That's when she heard a soft knock at the door. Sighing, she got up from the chair and opened it, revealing an exhausted Aina. She smiled weakly, "Hello, Akari. Mind if I rest here for a bit? I won't be here long."

"Not unless you tell me what you've been up to these past few days," Akari shook her head.

Aina remained silent as she let herself in, sitting down on the chair Akari was just sitting in. Akari walked until she was in front of her and slammed her hands down onto the table. "You've been collecting Lux, haven't you?" She yelled.

Aina jumped at Akari's loud voice. It was never like her to raise her voice. In fact, she looked angry was well. Aina never once in her life saw Akari yell or get angry at someone, let alone both at once. "I take your silence as a yes," Akari sighed as she removed her hands from the table only to throw them up into the air. "What were you thinking?" She shrieked. "Do you understand what you are doing? You're summoning Kingdom Hearts, which was strictly forbidden by the Master! I should know, because I'm assigned the role to protect it!"

"If you knew, why didn't you try and stop me?" Aina questioned.

"Because the others were doing it as well," Akari replied. "I thought it was something you all agreed to, but I remembered what just happened, and I knew there was something more to it. So, I did what I thought best; I began to unweave Kingdom Hearts."

"You WHAT?" Aina screamed, jumping in her seat.

"I thought it would be easy," Akari continued. "'It's like unweaving a giant heart', I told myself. 'It'll be easy'. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Kingdom Hearts is not something to be meddled with, and my efforts were fruitless. I should've stopped all of you, but I didn't want to cause any more conflicts. Tell me, Aina, why did you participate in the Lux gathering?"

"It's like you said-I wanted to summon Kingdom Hearts to bring back brother," Aina replied.

"That's extremely selfish!" Akari scolded. "You think you're the only person who misses the Master? We all want him back as well, but you don't see me trying to summon Kingdom Hearts to bring him back. He's gone, Aina!"

"You don't think I know that?!" Aina screeched. "Besides, I agreed to do this with Gula! It has to bring him back! He can't be truly gone!"

"Well, you should've known better and stopped Gula!" Akari yelled. "You are the Master's sister, and you should know better than any of us that—"

"ENOUGH!" Aina screamed, stopping Akari. She had her head buried in her hands, covering her eyes. "You think I want my brother back because I miss him?" Aina snapped, her voice cracking. "I don't know what to do, Akari. I have no answers to any of the questions. I'm tired of people coming to me, thinking I can comfort others because I was the Master's sister and should possess his charm or I know the answers to a problem because I'm the Master's sister and I know all. I want him back because I want my answers to my questions. If I can't prevent the future, I can delay it!"

Akari remained quiet and reached out to comfort Aina but a clock tolled, its ringing echoing throughout the room. She stopped in her tracks and looked over shoulder. "What's that?" She asked.

"It's time," Aina stated as she stood up, wiping her eyes. "The battle's about to begin."

"Aina—" Akari started but she was already at the door.

"I must go to the fated land," she interrupted and closed the door.

Akari stood there, frozen, unsure if she should follow or remain here, as her role didn't specify. In the other room, Sunako sat in her lounge chair, stroking Shadow as she heard the whole conversation. She sighed, slightly gritting her teeth. "Looks like I haven't been the only one meddling," she muttered quietly to herself.